DA: Mother was following ritual when she stabbed 2 sons to death

Editor's note: This story contains graphic details and descriptions of a crime scene, which some readers may find disturbing. 

BROCKTON, Mass. -- The Plymouth County District Attorney’s office says a Brockton mother was following a ritual when she stabbed her two sons to death Monday.

Attorneys in a court hearing for Latasha Sanders, 43, said she told police she killed the 5 and 8-year-old boys in a ritual incident.

According to prosecutors, the 8-year-old boy was stabbed 50 times.

Court documents show police asked her why she stabbed her son and she responded, "it was because of the voodoo stuff."

She allegedly told police she mopped up the floor and put the knife in the kitchen sink.

Police were initially called to the house for a report of "a party laid out in front of the house." A neighbor later told police Sanders was hysterical in the common hallway inside the building where she lived and threw herself at the man.  He told police he couldn't hold her up and called 911 when she fell to the floor.

Officers found Sanders on a stretcher with EMS when they arrived. She was covered with a blanket and "began to scream uncontrollably and flail her arms and hands around in the air above her."

She was taken away from the home in the ambulance.

The neighbor who called police told officers she had children and led an officer into her apartment where the pair found the children dead.

"[The neighbor] pulled a blanket ... from a small child laying in the bed. [He] then began to scream and ran out of the bedroom," the police report states.

Police said the small child had several cuts to his face and a large bandage on his neck. Officers and EMS found the second child.

"He too was cut up and had a large hole on the side of his neck," officers wrote in the report.

Police say they found Sanders at Good Samaritan Hospital, where she told officers she lived in the house with her sons and the boys' father sometimes stays with them.

Sanders allegedly told police she was not at home that day and she didn't know what happened to the boys. She said she was out driving around and stated someone was following her.

"She then stated that she was upset because [one child] was in his bed," the report states. "She stated that he wouldn't wake up. She stated that she tried to wake him up and wouldn't wake up. She stated that he had blood on his hands"

When asked for details about the alleged ritual she was following, the district attorney’s office simply said they are still looking into it but she had supposedly mentioned rituals to her family in the past.

Investigators said Monday the killings took place within the past few days and are trying to figure out a motive.

>>PREVIOUS: Mom accused of stabbing young sons to death to appear before judge

According to court records, Sanders confessed to killing both children and was arrested after a test revealed she had blood on her hands.

Court records show the boys' extended family arrived at the scene without knowing what happened and read about the deaths in a newspaper article.

A family member later told police Sanders had been obsessed with "the ideation, rituals, and numbers regarding the 'Illuminati' as well as sacrifices."

Sanders was ordered held without bail after her arraignment on the two charges of murder.

TOP STORIES:

Cox Media Group